The dangles are my clubmate rufus, they are to remember his wife who died recently taking that selfie on her bike. I was always at the back as I was the rolling marshall/coach/commissaire.

Obviously I didn’t contest or attack, but the race needed a few more attacks to be honest.

If have paid online a printout of the BC page is all that is required.

I saw you rock up at the start TiRed 🙂 I started on row 2 on the inside and slowly worked my way backwards from there 😀

@tired the one that states Race Silver Membership? Can’t see anywhere where it shows my licence. (sorry)

Ok so without starting a new ‘credible cat 4’ thread, what can I reasonably do to improve?? Practice group riding is number one I suppose and losing a couple of stone close behind 😀
Considering the two laps when I was cruising around at 17mph wondering whether to quit, I was quite pleased with my power. Best 20mins was 316w and laps one and two were 365w+!! Average for the race was 295 and weighted was 310.

Do more of them.

In the space of about 4 races I went from staying out of trouble but taking a load of wind and riding mostly z3/z4 to comfortably riding in the pack at z1/z2 expending not much effort. You just need to know what’s going on and be in the right places at the right times (so not dangling off the back going into a series of slow bends!)

I’m sure TiRed is your man for advice though.

Zwift structured training? Then rest Thurs/Fri.

Now you’ve got your numbers maybe try and tuck in @300w?

I have no idea though, so looking forward to hearing replies. 😆

😯
How do you get popped off the back putting out a 295w average? Are you leaving too big a gap to rider(s) in front to get a proper tow?

Edit: Wrong time of year for it, but race pace group rides (apr’s are good) get you used to riding close to others whilst going hard.

@MrBlobby Yes, you are right.
I enjoyed it immensely too- the surface is lovely and quick!

It just seems crazy that I missed such an obvious point. I was repeating my little ‘forward not backwards’ mantra for the first lap and actually moving up in places but I guess my positioning was just off enough to wear me out too soon.

@fifeandy I leave a big hole in the air 😀 I’m 6′ and 90kg.

Ah, bit harder work to get some shelter then.
I look out for blokes like you cos if i get the wheel its freewheeling time 😀

I seemed to have a constant train behind me around Ride London 😀

As i learned but didnt continue with, dont ride by numbers use your brains. Get tucked in the bunch, work to stay there and conserve energy, then fight at the finish. My best Crit was Iike this after following TiReds advice and i showed at 290w average. My “turbo ftp” was lower.

As for improvement – again as i found out find your power profile (hunter allen test on TR) then work on your weaknesses as well as the overall. Im hitting my max 2016 FTP in winter training which according to prior annual profile is 10% less than Ill end up in March (start XC season). Ive just performed and found some some 850w sprint sessions less than challenging, with sprint as my strength, plus a test race i entered showing strong on short climbs so all is looking good for 2017 MTB XC.

The old “find your strengths work on your weakness” adage seems to work for me. Im bravely entering a pan flat CX race on an mtb deliberatley to push my long interval strength / cardio as i wont have the gears or position to compete against drop bars and better gear ratios.

Hmmm. Can do the 17th if I ditch the SPAM winter challenge on the 18th…… that’s actually a tough decision….

I wasn’t riding by numbers I can assure you!
I wish I had onboard footage to review though as it would be great to see when I just drifted off too far. I was on the left of the bunch down the start/finish straight the lap I lost touch so probably catching the wind too much.

My powercal average was 228 watts for the back of the pack. 256 for the E123. I did try and encourage backmarkers to move into the gaps. Shelter is everything in racing and there was a strong wind today. Race craft will get you to the finish. I expect a gap just opened and a moments loss off focus and off you go. I got dropped going down a slope earlier this year! Most of surviving is mental. There is nothing wrong with the engine. But racing is full on concentration.

I’m 69 kilos today and 179cm.

Thanks TiRed. It was quite humbling sprinting up the hill after them and knowing they were gone for good 😀

Definitely going to rent a power meter in January, sounds like good information for analysis afterwards.

Do you always go out with the Cat 4s then race @tired?

Did you manage to get some practice laps in first @crosshair? I was running realllly late today, otherwise I was going to try and find you for some laps beforehand.

On a side note my new bike is epic, never had a bike that feels so light – yet doesn’t feel like it’s flexing at all under full acceleration. Looking forward to trying it up Broomfield tomorrow see if I can get a higher position on strava ha 😳

Yes thanks NathB. Did quite a few laps beforehand. I threw in a few sprint efforts but probably wish I hadn’t bothered. I generally just like a quiet 30-40minute spin.

Do not worry about being dropped. Everyone does. Just race more. There really is no substitute, you just need to learn to hold position and follow a wheel. Club riding teaches you that.

We thought it might be good to have someone at the back giving advice, coaching (I’m a level 3 road and TT), generally looking for hazards and providing encouragement! I started racing the winter series as a fourth cat. I’ve raced Hillingdon at least 60 times in everything from the fourths to vets to E123 thrashfesrs at 29mph.

As for warm ups, normally a good 20 minutes BC world class warm up helps. Starts at Hillingdon are not normally 400 watts or you are gone. I didn’t warm up at all!

As long as you are enjoying it, keep it up. I started aged 45 and never thought I’d race.

@TiRed – Do you know when the next prime coaching “race prep” sessions are?

You’ll probably be sweeping me up next weekend 😆

Thanks TiRed.

I’ve booked for rd3 🙂

I think Prime are done until February. Don’t worry. If you’ve done a sportive on a closed road, today race felt like that. I’m not allowed to coach on the wheel, but I’ll be there next week too with the YGA offering helpful tips like “look up!” A few laps will help get the feel of the circuit.

Nathb Hopefully you’ll enjoy it too and I’ll see you on the 17th 😉
My diary is unusually kind this winter and I can potentially make the last five rounds too 🙂

@TiRed – see you there then – I’m all signed up for the 10th 😆

@crosshair – unfortunately I’m up north that weekend. Are you doing the 7th or 14th Jan?

14th but I’ve just found out that I may have to work that one so I’ll do the last four rounds.

Okay so far, if I survive Saturday, it’s looking like I can do all 6 next year.

Went out for a spin earlier on the new bike to double check everything is working okay, set a couple of PR’s on broomfield but my legs are knackered so I’m going to be on light duties this week.

Starting to overthink things again, such as what to eat beforehand 😳

Sorry to hijack your thread mate, hope you don’t mind me joining in 😀

I started to think of things I could have done differently but ultimately it wouldn’t have helped me do the one thing I should have done which was get in the goddam draft 😉 😀

I’m a case study in the iron-gut approach to cycling nutrition- I’m fat enough to rarely bonk and rarely suffer ill effects from eating before or during cycling. I bought a box of flapjack bites from Sainsbury’s on Saturday morning and ate about 1000 calories of those and a can of Redbull as pre race fuel 😀

For an hour race I don’t do anything special, usual breakfast/lunch and maybe a gel a few minutes before the start.

Keep hydrated and ticking over during the week, don’t ease off too much but get some decent efforts in by Thursday.

Light spin with a few 30 second sprints on Friday.

Not at all crosshair, any racing advice/questions highly welcome 🙂
Back when I was between 80-90kg I could do 50 miles fasted before the bonk effect. If I took a gel out with me I could do 60 miles. Now at 70kg I wouldn’t dream of it, probably do about 20 miles before it would hit me like a wall, it’s happened a couple of times after a few laps of Regent’s Park after work.

Really @haze, my legs are knackered – was planning on ploughing through Mon/Tues with a couple of Zwift races then just doing some Zone 1/2 training Wed-Fri (I’ll introduce some sprints of the back of your comment). This is alongside my regular commute into work 13 miles a day bar Wednesday where I’m at the other end of town and have to use public transport.

Cool, couple of easy days is good particularly at the end of the week…the short sprints will hopefully keep you on your toes.

For an hour race, about 800 Kcal, I don’t tend to eat much more than normal, but the rule is two hrs before the race. Saturday I had a couple of croissants for breakfast, soup and bread and two weetabix for lunch, rode the 4ths then a gel for the E123. I could have probably! Done with another gel during the E123, but it was not so bad. I drank 600ml of nuun cola electrolyte drink.

Don’t over think it, and do eat at 11 for the 1pm start.

Thanks @TiRed.

Overthinking is what I do 😆

My licence page has updated now too 😀

Kryton, do you have a link to this:

hunter allen test on TR

Anyone doing the Evans Cycles London Road Sportive – Sunday 15th January 2017 from Osterley Park?

https://www.evanscycles.com/evans-cycles-london-road-sportive-sunday-15th-january-2017-EV289332

hunter allen test on TR

https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/workouts/23754-h-a-a-c-power-profile-test

Crosshair, looks like Outdoor Traders are going to run their winter crit series at Dalton Barracks near Abingdon again this year. Dates set to be 4th Feb, 11th Feb, 25th Feb & 4th March. Fairly local so may well be up for some of that 🙂

Cool thanks. That sounds spot on 🙂

Just been looking through the calendar for Hillingdon:

Imperial Winter Series
03/12/2016
10/12/2016
17/12/2016
07/01/2017
14/01/2017
21/01/2017
28/01/2017
04/02/2017
11/02/2017

BC West Thames 
11/04/2017
18/04/2017
25/04/2017
02/05/2017
09/05/2017
16/05/2017
23/05/2017
30/05/2017
06/06/2017
13/06/2017
20/06/2017
27/06/2017
04/07/2017
11/07/2017
18/07/2017
25/07/2017
01/08/2017
08/08/2017

There’s 27 races there, really didn’t realise how many there was!

BCWT are every Tuesday evening. All spring and summer. There is a 3/4 race not for points, and an E123 race for points but no distinction between E12 and 3. The 3/4 race tends to be faster than the IWS 4th Cat race, with more tactics (which is a good thing). The E123 is typically a tuning session for a few big teams to come and thrash the field. And yes, last summer I double headed a few of them, along with others. One E123 race recorded my fastest ever average circuit race speed of 28.8 mph! It was as brutal as it sounds.

I quite fancy Dalton, as I used to live in Kingston Bagpuize, and it is always nice to go back.

Ah so as a 4th Cat you wouldn’t progress to Cat 3 if you won any of those. That’s a shame.

Where would a 4th cat go nearby to Hillingdon/West London to build up points?